Sharing HBO Go Accounts Could Result In Prison

coolnumbr12 writes "In a recent New York Times article called 'No TV? No Subscription? No Problem?' Jenna Wortham noted how she used, 'the information of a guy in New Jersey that I had once met in a Mexican restaurant.' Dave Their of Forbes admitted that he used his sister's boyfriend's father's account in exchange for his Netflix information. But this is stealing under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, which makes it a misdemeanor with a maximum one-year prison sentence to 'obtain without authorization information from a protected computer.' It is also a violation of the Digital Millennium Copy Act because it is knowingly circumventing a protection measure set up to prevent someone from watching content like 'Game of Thrones' without paying. Forbes points out that a crafty prosecutor could also claim that using an HBO Go password without paying is a form of identity theft."

Piracy?

[mitcheli]

I read an article on Slashdot last year about The Game of Thrones that stated that it was the number one pirated show on the Internet. Because I am a guy who believes in rewarding good talent and also knowing that GoT was a pretty darn good show, I bought both Seasons 1 and 2 (yes, paid for it!) on iTunes. And I was right, a fantastic show! So when my wife and I finally finished off Season 2 and Season 3 was just starting up, we went to our trusty iTunes to get a subscription for Season 3. Well, sorry folks, it's only available in Australia. And we wonder why people are attempting to steal it? Seriously, make it available to purchase and I'll be more than happy to do so. In the meantime, I can't exactly imagine why the piracy happens... Stumped really... Correct me if I'm wrong, if a technology is not readily available to be used, isn't the circumvention of the protection mechanisms legal under fair use? Was that not the point of the DeCSS case?

Solution

[asmkm22]

HBO could easily solve this problem by offering their shows for sale/rent online the same day or the day after it's aired on cable. They have no one to blame but themselves when they only provide a single means to watch their programs, and people resort to pirating or sharing credentials. I know I'd be more than happy to pay 2 or 3 bucks for a one-time pass per episode.

The world is moving forward, and it's up to the entrenched media industries to move with it if they want a piece of the action.

Re:Theft of Service!

[necro81]

The availability of HBO without cable is largely a matter of business agreements between HBO and the cable providers. I assume that in its various contracts, HBO is forbidden from offering a stand-alone streaming service to people who don't pay for cable. Government doesn't have a whole lot to do with it. It would be swell if the FCC could force cable providers to offer channels a la carte, but it isn't clear that they have the authority to do that, let alone the political will.